Plaza makeovers take downtown to new level

Redesigned Piazza Bergamo, NOMA Square to open next month

Dec. 2, 2012

The old fountain in front of the Hyatt has been replaced with a curved tile wall over which water flows. / MYKAL McELDOWNEY/Staff

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Used to be when people got to Main and College, they’d turn around and walk back.

There wasn’t much beyond if you weren’t staying at the hotels — just some shops, a mass of office towers and parking garages on either side.

That will change. Once the plaza by the Hyatt reopens next month, the formerly bare and square space where it was easier to find a trash can than a place to sit in the sun will be replaced with a new center of gravity at the edge of downtown.

Now, the first thing you’ll see at NOMA Square (a combination of the words North on Main) is water spilling gently from a curved tiled wall. The big iron-ringed fountain is gone, as are the benches and heavy metal chairs. There’s a permanent stage, shade trees and earth-colored pavers beneath your feet.

Similar changes are also happening at the nearby Piazza Bergamo, which, when finished, will be the fourth completely redesigned public space the city has helped fund and shape in recent years at a cost of nearly $10 million.

City officials said the money spent is well worth the estimated $180 million that will be invested around the perimeters of these newly renovated plazas. When done right, they are the city’s front porches, places where impromptu gatherings, people watching and social and civic life intersect, and they play a crucial role in successful urban centers.

In Greenville’s case, public spaces like NOMA Square will also be key in attracting new restaurants and retail to fill in gaps where storefronts aren’t as visible and where people don’t naturally gravitate.

Public-private partnership

The four redesigned plazas, which include Graham Plaza at the Peace Center and Village Green by the Courtyard Marriott, exist in a category of land uses that seem like an oxymoron — privately owned public spaces.

In a series of development agreements, the city has been granted mostly unfettered access by agreeing to pay for public right-of-way improvements along with sylvan extras like water features and lush landscaping. This, officials said, ensures that the plazas are built to downtown’s standards, though they sometimes involve spending taxpayer dollars.

Greenville City Council struck the latest deal with the owners of the Hyatt Regency last week contributing up to $900,000 for plaza renovations and streetscaping along with the $15 million the owners are already spending on hotel renovations. In exchange, the city will be given daily use of NOMA Square for the next 20 years.

The money comes from the $1.2 million the city recouped by selling its share of Hyatt property in 2010, said Angie Prosser, director of public information and events.

The city also spent $2.5 million on the Peace Center’s plaza, where earthen stairs lead down to a postcard view of the Reedy River and TD Stage.

Another $1.5 million in property sale proceeds was used to renovate Village Green, now synonymous with Ice on Main.

More than $4 million in downtown tax revenues have been tagged for Piazza Bergamo’s makeover in conjunction with the $100 million One development at Main and Washington. Another $600,000 was also taken from the capital budget this year, bringing total city investment to $5.3 million, according to city documents.

That might seem like a hefty price for a piece of landscaped concrete, but developing public spaces that work is harder, and more costly, than it sounds.

“These things are very expensive in the sense that it has to be done, and it has to be done right,” said Barry Nocks, chairman of the city’s Design Review Board. “It’s not as if you can slap a coat of paint on it. There’s a lot of moving pieces.”

In the Piazza Bergamo’s redesign, crescent-shaped benches along with other modern details, bike racks, a rain garden and more than 100 species of plants work as an open invitation from Main Street to walk into the plaza and linger there.

By early next year, the Piazza and nearby NOMA Square will be part of the overall downtown experience, moving foot traffic from the West End into North Main, College Street, down to the Children’s Museum and then Heritage Green.

“These are spaces that will join Falls Park and the Reedy River in your mind of what is downtown Greenville. It takes us to yet another level,” Greenville Mayor Knox White said.

Why they work

Well-designed public spaces tend to have certain things in common. They’re sociable places, easily accessible with plenty of activities, and they’re comfortable and safe, according to the Project for Public Spaces.

White said there’s something else they have in common as well — retail space — which Piazza Bergamo and NOMA Square will soon have.

Like the office towers they tend to wrap around, plazas become areas that lure people downtown at different times of the day and week. The Hyatt will feature three rental spaces for retail, the One tower 45,000 square feet.

“Having some mixed use around the space brings it to life, and both of these two are carefully designed to do just that,” White said.

NOMA Square also has a European-style waffle cart, paying homage to the Greenville Waffle Shop that used to sit where the Hyatt’s parking garage is now. Main Street Fridays will continue, and staff is working to create a revolving calendar of special events open to the public.

Though they’re on much smaller footprints, urban public spaces are as important as parkland, Nocks said. Celebrations are held there. Friends run into each other. Cultures mix.

But when plazas aren’t designed correctly, they become a sort of black hole, a dead space people subconsciously avoid.

The old Piazza Bergamo was missing all the things that are being poured into it now — there was hardly any seating, it was exposed to the sun, and it wasn’t well defined or visible from the street, Nocks said.

Lawn space was lacking, as were water features, which ease out the noise of city life. Art and sculptures also help, while ample lighting makes the place feel safe at night.

“All cities that work have these various places that are breathing spaces and outdoor rooms in addition to buildings and sidewalks and parks,” Nocks said.